The Best of American Heritage: Vietnam War

The Best of American Heritage: Vietnam War by Edwin S. Grosvenor

My main source of disappointment after reading this book was simply that it was not what I expected.  I’ve read the American Heritage books on World War’s I and II, and those books were a neat, somewhat concise history of the entire conflict.  I was expecting the same thing here.  Sadly, this book was simply a compendium of short stories and essays by different authors about the war and the reflection of the war after the fact.  

So some stories are detailed accounts about actual battles. Other stories are told by newsman that didn’t actually fight in the combat.  Then there are some that seem to mainly focus on events that are somewhat remote from the battlefield; such as the idea to build the monumental wall in the early 1980s.  Some of these stories were good, some were great, yet some were a tad tedious. There’s even a story or two that seemed to be a sociological commentary about the times.

Whenever I review books that I buy, I can’t help but let the price tag affect my overall judgement.  If a book is expensive, it better be good.  It it’s a Kindle freebie or heavily discounted, I tend to be a little more lenient.  The Kindle version of this book lists for $9.99.  Had I paid that much I probably would have disliked this even more.  It happens, though, that I purchased it on sale at some point for around $1.99 or so.  So my disappointment was curbed somewhat.  I know, I know; I should read a book’s description before clicking “Buy”.  But when I saw the distinct gold bars across the top and bottom of the book with the “American Heritage” moniker, I simply was expecting what I’ve received before.  

All this to say if you know what you’re getting beforehand, you probably won’t be disappointed. This, really, is the entire point of my review.   If you’re looking for a good detailed account of the Vietnam War, I would recommend Stanly Karnow’s Vietnam: A History.  That book actually begins around the 19^th century, giving the reader plenty of background in order to fully comprehend the nation’s sad history along with the disastrous war.